Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1887-03-19
A CALAmlT0Us FIRE.

. 81 VII - trsal
Destruction of the Richmond Hotel
in Buffalo.
A Dozen Persons Lose their Lives
and Many More Seriously
Injured.
Buffalo, March 18-The Richmond
hotel End st. James hall burned early
this morning. The loss Is fully half q
million dollars. A number OF lives are
reported lost and many ,nJured. The
fire was discovered ct $3.50 this morning
in the new Richmond hotel. The house
contained a large number OF guests, and
their heart.rending shrieks could be
plainly heard. Ladders were raised as
soon as possible, and a. many as could
be were taken out. A large plumber of
them were unable to effect their escape.
The corridor in the center OF the build
ing acted az o great funnel, and as the
flames streamed upward tho guests
found themselves imprisoned by walls Of
fire. The screams of the unfortunates
could be heard for a block, and at many
windows they could be seen calling for
help. AT one of the third story windows
two guests were seen to fall back into
the flames. One man jumped from the
fifth hoor to the roof of q two-story
wooden building adjoining and was
seriously injured.
The number of those injured is not
exactly known. M. W. Barse, of Olean,
N, Y. was terribly burned about the
hands and wrists. A number of insur-
anoe men were in the building, and
several of them were badly injured
Among them were w. j.. Mckay, oil
Niagara Falls; @. w Dubois. OF syria
cuse; W. 8. Dewey, of Rochester, and
Clinton Bidwell, Of Pistsburg. The
badly buried at the hospital are Charles
DAVIS, of New York; II. B. Smith, of the
north British insurance company OF New
York, and Edward Whelan, of New York
all burned about the hands and feet
They are probably not fatally injured
The Fitch hospital contains eight mel
aud one woman more or less injured
Two of the injured are at the Sisters
hospital and four more at the genera.
hospital.
The building is situated at the corne,
: of Main and Eagle streets, extendin,
through to Washington street.
s 1t is now believed that ut least tweiv
persons were burned to death. Tn
rapidity of the fire cutting off means o
escape led some persons to leap for lf
, from the windows, Others got dow
! the fire escapes or on ladders raised b.
the fire department. The shrieks ant
= cries of the poor people in the uppe
stories OF the burning were heartrendlns
= One man., mad with terror. leaped iron
! a third-story window and was picked u
. from the stone sidewalk O mangle,
! corpse. Several who succeeded in max
= Ing their escape were badly injured an
9 burned. and some of these will probabl
. die. others more fortunate escaped wit
0 slight injuries.
There were 125 people in the hotel, Z
J of whom were transient guests, s boRrS
ers and the remainder perters, bell bog
. and families of the proprietor or clerk
= Twenty-Five of these were rescued fror
windows by fremen. twenty-five are 9
I the hospitals, and a large number mad
. their escape by other means.
9 The origin of the fire is unknown
!, William Ri. Airport, night clerk, says:
There wae nobody up but myself
Joe, the night porter, and Plummer,
. bell boy. l pulled all four OF the fy
alarms on different floors, and the pee
pie came flying down stairs in the
night clothes. The fire followed I'll
elevator, and inside OF Ave minutes ha
doors after doing all I could"
q nka hall how pIrro-ou ALL, Liz -
Q p~erience as follows.
81 was busting the railing of the ROOF
when / heard o shout and saw hsme
coming up the stairway from the base
o ment, Airport and Hound the hose undo
y the main stairway. We Strengthened
q out ard turned on the valve bat til
water would not run. Then we gave I'll
O alarm. The Waterman and I got q plan
and broke in the Eagle street entranc
to the hotel. Then we got a plank undt
the fire escape on Eagle street and v
helped people down. I think there wei
about eighty-four guests in the hotel
AS far as can be ascertained the des
are as follow:
Katie Kent, Minnie Kelly and Kat
,, Pierce, servants.
Wilson Purcell, of r. G.. Dunn & @
Mark Osborn, day clerk at the hotel.
= Mr.. johnson, of Toronto, a railwa
man.
's Kate Wolf, a servant, Of Lockport.
The dying ares:
Jacob Kahn, of New York.
Henry B Rnmsey, OF New York.
Maggie MuIrach, OF Buffalo,
Mary Nolan, of Buffalo.
Edward Whelan, OF Newburgh.
y, Those who we're seriously burned {
injured are as follows:
! /. Fl Finch, of Scranton. Pa.
E, K. Moore, of Cleveland.
= VA Haren. OF Helena, M. 7.
., @. w. Dubois, OF Syracuse, N. Y.
!, w. j. Mann, Mrs. Mann and Jennie,
Buffalo.
2, Milo Barse, of Olean, N. 7.
8, Mat Shannon. Charles Clinton Bidwel
Minnie Weller, Mrs. Kate Pierce, Nell
Weloh and Nettie Harvey. all of Buffal,
Barry Davis and George F. Michael
both of New York.
w. 7. Maekay. al NIAGARA Falls.